Cold Metal
by radiopop
Summary: Kai followed his finger, and froze in shock. The screen had been taken over by a face. The visage had human features, but was too beautiful to be human. Letters began appearing on the bottom of the screen, seemingly in slow motion…“Hello. My name is Rei."
1. Chapter 1

"_Over 6,000 tones of manmade items, including 200 derelict satellites, are floating in orbit above our planet." _

"_However, this is no cause of concern, since the International Space Agency has been working since the year 2008 to reduce the amount of space debris."_

"_Recently though, the prominent scientist, Tyson Granger, has claimed that there may be more than just waste floating up there. Other researchers are reluctant to believe his claim. It is unlikely that investigation will commence."_

"_And now, moving on to the current state of the war."_

The little boy looked up from the television.

"Mama?"

The woman looked up from washing her dishes, and glanced at her little boy. Her eyes softened with love, but at the same time her heart tightened with worry. With so much of the country going into "mechanization", how was she going to provide a natural upbringing for her child?

"Yes Tommy?"

"What if there was someone floating alone up there?"

The pale yellow curtains fluttered in the breeze. Like the little boy, they seemed innocently unaware of the state of the world around them.

"Don't be ridiculous Tommy, it isn't possible for anyone to be alone in space."

* * *

Black.

Infinite, unrelenting black.

Rei had never understood the black, even though it was all he had ever seen outside of his window.

He pressed his fingers against the glass, and stared out into the great beyond.

Even though he didn't want to know, his internal counter told him it was now day 4608. He didn't know what it meant, but just assumed it the number of days since the day he woke up.

The day he woke up and realized he was alone.

_Alone and maybe, left for dead. _

His hand tightened into a fist against the glass. He didn't bother to punch the surface, as he always used to do "back then". Rei counted "back then" as the first 2304 days he had spent here. He had long since switched off the sensors on the surface of his body, tired of always feeling cold.

_If I can't avoid being alone, I can at least avoid feeling cold... _

Rei sighed, and walked over to the tank. The tank, a gigantic contraption of glass, metal, and buttons, stretched the length from the floor to the ceiling. In the middle ran an ominous mass of metal tubes and wires. These spilled out a gaping hole in the glass onto the floor, twisting and curling haphazardly.

Rei sort of identified with these tubes and wires. They, like him, had been wet on the day he first woke up. But then, over time, they had dried along with him. Rei supposed that if he thought of the tubes and wires as his friends, he wouldn't be alone.

_Alone in this black._

He picked up the two ragged books from where he had left them the "night" before. He supposed that it had been night, since his internal counter had told him that 12 hours had passed since the last "night" he had spent, and so on. So he had plugged himself in, even though he didn't need to, and switched himself off.

It was momentary bliss to not know anything. But then his battery had charged full and he had automatically woken up again.

These books were his pastime, and the only thing of interest.

When Rei had woken up, he had spent the first 7 days feverishly exploring the vessel that he was on. After discovering that it, like the room he had woken in, was no more than glass and metal, all eerily deserted, he had returned to "his" room.

_I suppose it's my room, since I woke up in it…_

The next 14 days were spent trying to remember. Rei didn't know what he was supposed to remember, but he had an instinct node programmed in his left chest that told him he was supposed to know something. So he tried.

He had tried everything from booting up the gigantic screen that he had found in one of the rooms to disconnecting his memory chips to see what was inside them.

_Nothing worked. _Rei pushed down an electrical impulse that was trying to make its way to his left chest, trying to make him feel anger.

Rei had long since given up on remembering. And feeling.

Out of boredom, he had turned to the manuals. Although he hadn't known how to read, his instinct node had kicked in and connected him to the memory chip in the front of his brain. Learning to read had taken a while, but it was enjoyable.

One manual was titled "How to Operate: Tank for Neutralizing Dangerous Weapons". He had found it in the same room he had woken in. Most of the pages had been ruined by some kind of liquid, but he had pored through the rest of the pages left.

Those were the front three pages, and all he had gathered from those was that the tank could be used to render dangerous weapons useless by containing them.

The other manual was named simply by three letters, "REI". He had named himself after those letters, liking the sound of them.

But after flipping open the front cover, he had found each of the pages to be agonizingly blank.

_Almost as bad as the black…_

Rei had become obsessed with finding out the secret of this manual. He was sure no one had bound 638 pages (yes, he had counted) for no reason. The instinct node told him not to settle for blank paper, and he agreed. So he battled the blankness.

As Rei flipped open the manual to start another 12 hour session, the vessel hurtled on through space.

* * *

Black.

Endless, agonizing black.

But Kai was used to looking at black now. After spending so many days and nights looking at the absence of light outside…

Of course, like so many others, he had fervently wished it wouldn't have turned out this way. That fate had not gripped the world as it did in its cold grasp.

_War is never a good idea, especially in this time and age. _

But someone had had to take action, and he had been the one to do it. Kai grabbed his hair in frustration, fingers twisting the slate and navy blue locks. The sudden action of his elbows rustled the map on the table, knocking the little pieces this way and that.

_But why?! _

436 of his people, his troops. Of course, statistically speaking, this was not a big number. But then, these were his comrades, ones who had sworn to fight with him, to do all in their power to stop the corruption.

_And how had the enemy known?  
_

Kai sighed and looked up as the door to his chambers opened, and Molly came in with a tray of food.

"Morning Kai." She cheerfully bounced her way into the room.

"Molly." Kai acknowledged her with a nod of his head. He continued staring at the map as she set his breakfast down.

The curvaceous redhead finished setting the table, and sat down opposite from Kai.

"Ready for another big day?" She winked at him.

Kai smiled half-heartedly and reached for his coffee. Upon drinking it though, he quickly swallowed. He looked first at the cup, and then at Molly.

"Milk!? Why did you put milk in?!"

Molly pouted with her full, red lips. "Well, you have a lot going on today and I figured I'd slip in a little extra treat the help you on your way."

Kai scowled. "You know how I feel about this, Molly. If I fight with my troops, I need to eat the same as them. Just because I'm the leader of the rebel forces doesn't mean I get special treatment."

Molly rolled her eyes. "Just be a good boy and drink it, Kai."

He sighed. "Go get Tala for me please, Molly."

She got up rather reluctantly. "Can I kiss you again today, Kai?"

"Do I ever say yes?" He was examining the map again, eyebrows knitted in concentration.

She pecked him on the cheek anyway, and flounced out the door. Kai didn't even notice.

A moment later, Tala came into the room, folders under his arm. Kai could hear every step he took with his heavy combat boots.

"Tala, one day you'll put a hole through our ship's floor with those."

_Especially with the state its been in as of late...its a feat that we can stay in orbit. _

In spite of their dire circumstances, Tala grinned. "But then it'll be easier to get supplies. We could just suck them up through the floor."

Kai laughed, but it was a really empty sound. Tala wordlessly sat down, taking the seat that Molly had just occupied.

For a few minutes they sat in silence, sharing Kai's breakfast. Kai still stared at his map, lost in his thoughts. Tala looked out of the window, into the never-ending darkness.

Kai was the first one to speak.

"You know Tala," he said, still half lost in his thoughts, "we need a miracle."

Usually Tala would have made some kind of joke about how cliché the statement sounded, but this time he was quiet. Then he finally spoke up.

"Kai," he said, voice shaking, "Kai, I think you just got your wish."

Kai looked up, following Tala's gaze out of the window.

At first it appeared like an ordinary piece of space trash, caught in orbit around the earth. But when Kai's eyes caught the small lettering on the ship's side, underneath the large window, he froze.

...

_This is not possible._

All the same, it floated on toward them, getting larger as it neared their ship.

_...It was destroyed over twenty one years ago! There is no way it could be intact! _

Kai and Tala sat mesmerized by something they thought they would never see. They were looking at a supposed legend; something only whispered about in back alleyways, never openly spoken about.

Something that wasn't supposed to exist.

When Kai finally gathered enough wits about him, he rose out of his chair, ready to run to the control room to tell the technicians to pull the ship in, to pinch him, to do something. But he froze again, his jaw open. Tala let out a strained gasp and promptly fainted.

The ship was not empty. A lone figure had appeared in the large window.

* * *

Yay! I'm really on a roll now as of late.

Two new stories in three days. Dang.

I promise I will update soon. Especially Operation Griffin. I haven't looked at that in a while.

And I really, really want to finish Let's Do Math. That one is supposed to be short. And sweet.

As always, please review. And share your thoughts.


	2. Chapter 2

Back down in main control, the room was in pandemonium.

Kai ducked as a rabid technician, trying to escape, tripped over a chair leg. The technician's flailing arms were as much of a hazard as the thousands of papers littering the slippery tile floor.

Continuing on, Kai flinched as he heard a healthy 'thunk' behind him. Gravity had claimed the poor technician. He spied another computer operator hiding under the table in a fetal position, shivering and muttering to himself. "The end has come...the end has come..."

Pushing through the crowd of panicked scientists and technicians, he finally reached Gregor's office.

It was like stepping out of another world; the silence was instantaneous.

Kai sat down on the chair opposite from the one behind the desk. He sighed. "I'm glad I locked the cupboards containing all the parachutes. I just hope one of them doesn't panic and break through the override code and override the whole system."

"I'm sure they won't." The chair slowly swiveled around, and Gregor's wiry face came into view.

Kai studied the calm face with affection. Gregor's gray hair stood out against his dark brown skin. He had a grizzled beard, and hadn't quite lost all of his hair just yet. This man had been like a father to Kai, the only one who would take in a lost stray in the midst of war and rebellion.

He sighed. "You know what happened, right?"

Gregor nodded. Years of training with the government had caused his face to be always devoid of emotion.

"I can't believe it though. It's got to be a hoax." Kai rubbed hard at his temples.

Gregor said nothing at this, but instead observed his hands.

"This can't be real. There has to be something wrong with it. Maybe we're just blind, just seeing some trick the Forces are trying to play on us, to give us a spook."

Gregor continued to sit in silence, his wise face blank.

"Gregor." Even Kai could hear the edge of desperation in his voice. "Gregor, you know this can't happen. It's just a story, right?"

The words hung between them, fermenting with the silence.

Finally, Gregor looked up.

"I always told you young'uns, but you never believed me." He looked out of the small window in his office into the endless black.

"The Sicilien has come back."

* * *

Rei was confused.

To be more exact, as his instinct node told him, he was both confused and afraid. And maybe, a little excited.

Clutching his precious manuals in his fingers, careful not to squeeze too hard, he stared out the window.

Yes, he had seen many pieces of space trash through his drifting days. They were wonders to behold, small distractions to look at as they drifted past. But always, they tumbled across the window and were gone.

_But this. This is something different._

When he had first spied it, Rei had stood up in a hurry, and rushed to the window.

_I've never seen anything like it before…_

This thing, this machine, was alive. Rei could see the blinking lights, in colors he had never seen before. He could see the rumbling, moving engines. He could see the movement of objects inside the ship in the small windows. Rei was intrigued.

Adjusting the lenses in his eyes, he zoomed in several hundred times, trying to learn more of this new entity. The outside wasn't really interesting; it was like the space debris Rei had seen, only much more pieced together and not as beaten up. Moving on to the inside, Rei decided to concentrate on the biggest window, and then move on to the smaller portals to gather more data.

Sadly, the space behind the window was disappointingly empty of moving things. He could see objects, like a tall green thing in a round bowl apparatus ("pot" his instinct node told him), but it wasn't moving…

Rei jumped as a rectangular space was suddenly opened and something burst into the room.

The instinct node reminded him that this was called a door, but Rei merely brushed away the information.

Zooming in a few more times, Rei concentrated on the figure that had just appeared…

* * *

Kai slammed the door to his chambers and skidded into the room, panting hard.

He spied Tala, still unconscious on the floor. When he had fainted, his weight had caused him to slide from the chair onto the floor. In any other situation, the redhead would have looked comical, but this was definitely not the time for jokes.

Kai sighed. He would get Molly to take care of Tala later. But for now…

He looked out of the large window, at the approaching ship. The small black lettering under the window, unchanged from the first time that he saw it, still read "Sicilien".

The lone figure was still there too.

He gritted his teeth; as commander, he would have to make a choice. However hard it was, the choice would have to be made. And soon.

Maybe, he would even have to defy Gregor.

Kai weighed the options in his brain, thinking hard. He could rescue the ship and risk taking on whatever danger was on it. That could involve sinking his ship, sending it plummeting down to earth. He could probably lose some troops, too. Or, he could let the ship go, stranding whatever poor individual was left on the ship, and maybe avoid the risk. A lot safer, most definitely.

However, both options were made in the consideration that this was _not_ the legendary ship, _not_ the ship that was supposed to be destroyed, _not _the ship that held something very, very powerful...

The whole time, the lithe figure stayed Kai's view, unmoving. He could almost swear that it was looking at him.

Kai finally reached a decision. He said a mental apology to the figure on the ship, and turned to head back to main control.

Gregor would not be happy.

* * *

Rei pouted.

_He left!_

In the short, blissful time that Rei had spent observing the human, he had taken in more data than all his days combined.

_Oh well. _Rei began to scan the smaller windows, looking for more interesting things…

* * *

For the second time, Kai burst into the main control room.

It was more deserted now, since all of the technicians were probably in the lower levels, trying to escape.

In the midst of all the mess, the chief technician, Rob, sat at the main computer, typing and checking data as if nothing had occurred.

Kai took a peek at Gregor's office. There was no movement. He quickly crossed the room and put a hand on the back on the technician's chair.

"Rob."

The man turned. Although he had seem calmed and composed, from close up Kai could tell that he was worried. There was a sheen of sweat on his forehead.

Rob pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Yes. I know about it. I never thought I would live to see…" he rambled on in a breathless manner.

"Rob. I want you to pull our ship away from…the…the…Sicilien." Kai flinched inwardly as he said it.

"WHAT?! You want me to pull away?!" Aghast, Rob studied Kai's face as if the commander was joking.

"B-but just…just to let it go!? You do realize that this is a scientific legend, something that is only whispered among even the most respected…A-and we're witnessing it! And you want me to pull away?!" Rob stared at Kai as if his commander just ordered him to crash the ship and commit suicide at the same time while singing I'm a Little Teapot.

Kai gritted his teeth. He really, really hated doing this. "With my power as your commander…" _Damn, I sound like a stuck up prick…_ "I order you to pull the ship away and head on the opposite direction."

For a silent, tense moment, Rob and Kai stared at each other, daring the other to show defiance.

Finally, Rob looked away. He brushed back his light brown hair and started tapping at the keyboard.

Moments later, Kai felt the movement of the ship beneath his feet. He sighed in relief.

_Now, all would be perfect if…_

A young man dressed in the standard uniform burst into the room. "Commander Hiwatari! Is it that really the Sicilien?! The troops are totally wigging out down there!"

Kai mentally slapped himself. After so many years on the job, he should have known better. Life, after all, was not perfect.

Commander Hiwatari reached for the intercom, ready to address his troops.

* * *

Rei was angry.

Very, very angry.

_The ship is moving away! Why?! _

He was pretty sure that he was not a menace. He had not harmed the ship, nor attacked it.

_So why is it leaving!?_

This made Rei mad. He wanted to learn more, to know more, and now, after only a few minutes, his chance was slipping away. Right before his eyes.

He stared for another moment at the retreating ship in irate silence.

His anger quickly turned into desperation. He began to scan(1) his memory chips for something, anything that might help him reverse the situation.

Rei could feel the electrical charges building up in his chest from all processing he was doing. If he acquired too much electrical charge, his batteries would burn out, but he didn't care. For now, he needed the ship to come back.

Finally, his instinct node sensed that the levels of electricity contained in Rei were getting too dangerous. So it took over and gently prodded Rei to a folder labeled "Override Tactics".

Rei mentally accessed the folder. A moment later, he felt connections building between him and the ship's computers. A box popped up asking for "Access Code".

After a few tries with different passwords, the box flashed green and disappeared. Rei grinned in victory. He began overriding the ship's controls, while saving the data on one of his many memory chips.

The ship began moving back towards Rei.

* * *

This time, Kai couldn't quite burst into the control room. He staggered.

Panting, he gasped out, "What is happening? I thought I told you to…"

Rob was busily typing on the keyboard, his forehead scrunched in frustration. "I know! But somehow, this thing overrode my firewall system! And fucking no one has ever done that!"

Kai could hear the panicked yells that had trailed him up the staircase. He had been busy making a speech to the troops about staying calm in the midst of a storm.

"I told you. Nothing can stop it."

Both the commander and the technician jumped as Gregor appeared. Standing up, he was tall and imposing, his physique left over from the days working and training with the government. Until, that is, he had discovered that the government was corrupt…

Kai clenched his fists. "There has to be something! We can't just give up…"

But then Rob lifted a shaking finger and pointed to the screen. Kai followed his finger, and froze in shock.

All three men stared in awed silence…

The computer no longer displayed Rob's data. Instead, it had been taken over by a face.

The face had human features, but was too beautiful to be human. Jet black hair framed a perfect face, setting off brilliant gold eyes. The face had full lips, a perfect nose, and finely formed cheekbones. The skin was smooth, a little too smooth…

Letters began appearing on the bottom of the screen, seemingly in slow motion…

"_Hello. My name is Rei."_

* * *

(1) When Rei scans, it is like how we think. So, when he's scanning his memory chips, he's looking for information contained in the chips. It's like thinking about a memory you experienced or remembering an answer on a test.

If you haven't realized it yet, Rei is not exactly human. We'll find out who he is in a little while...

So please, review. Share your thoughts, and be at peace.


End file.
